The wind carried the tang of salt and mist, brushing Suren's hair across his eyes as he crouched behind the trunk of the tree as he sat in its branches. Far away the restless sea catches Suren's attention; it churns in shades of silver and gray, whispering secrets he had yet to understand. Beyond the water, shrouded in fog, lay the Crossing — the place of whispered legends and vanished explorers. The old stories said the Dream Vapor was a coin flip, as no one who has left from here has come back and no one can communicate to us from the other side, but Suren's parents had been brave enough to try… and never returned.
He shook his head and clenched his fist trying to force himself to not think of the past. Today, it wasn't monsters of the deep he hunted or the monsters of the past, but a creature that had been said to bear immense strength in the nearby forest — a massive stag with antlers like gnarled branches, rumored to have survived the harshest winters by outsmarting and outstrengthening every hunter who dared hunt it. Most villagers said it was impossible to catch, but Suren didn't care. He didn't hunt for prestige. He hunted because of the dream he bears. that one day, he would stand atop the food chain, not just placing merely humans there, but himself.
The forest below rustled. Suren froze. His sharp eyes caught a flicker of movement among the shadows. The stag. Heart pounding, he crouched lower, matching his breath to the rhythm of the wind. Every instinct his foster father had drilled into him — patience, precision, respect for the wild — whispered through his mind.
And yet, even as he crept forward, his thoughts drifted. What lay beyond the Crossing? What monsters, what treasures, what… gifts awaited those who dared inhale the gas and enter the unknown? The questions had haunted him for years. Half fear. Half fascination. And maybe, just maybe, that was what made him strong.
The stag lifted its head. Its eyes met his. Time slowed. Suren inhaled — not just the crisp cold air, but the wildness of the world itself — and for the first time, he felt the pull of something greater. Something calling him forward, beyond the cliffs,beyond the water, into mysteries waiting on the other side of the world.
Suren took a deep breath, grasping his surroundings and calculating the optimal strategy to hunt this beast, and leapt off the tree. The beast hadn't moved and continued grazing below, unaware of Suren's diving attempt, he grabbed it by its rough, warm legs and The stag bolted. Suren held on, only to get cut from branches and bushes, he kept his cool through the annoyance, despite his efforts and the result of it,he made the decision to let go. His distraction earlier made him lose the leverage of time, but in spite of this he has thought of a new plan. Grab it by the antlers, mount it,and make it knock itself out. He followed, sprinting through undergrowth, dodging roots and rocks, his mind a blur of calculation and instinct.
The stag dashed through the dense underbrush, its powerful legs propelling it with a speed that took Suren by surprise as no animal had before. It was more agile than he had anticipated, darting through the forest with a grace that showed how well it was at evading the previous hunters that targeted it before Suren had. However, Suren was no ordinary one; he had honed his skills through years of experience in the wild since he was able to walk his first baby steps.
Suren was getting tired but wasn't giving up, he spotted a branch and an idea shot into his brain. He used his last bit of leg strength to dash towards the branch and grab onto it, Suren swung it in a wide arc, feeling the rush of adrenaline surge through his veins. Just as he reached the apex of his swing, he released the branch, propelling himself forward with an explosive burst of speed. In that brief moment of flight, he reached out and latched onto the stag's rugged, weathered horns, feeling the pulse of the wild beneath his fingertips. With a fierce determination, he tugged back trying to slow the stag down.
He perched atop the enormous, weathered beast, his hands clutching its sturdy horns as if bracing for the wildest of rodeos. The stag charged through the dense forest, weaving between towering trees and thick underbrush. Suren winced with each jolt, feeling the sting of branches and thorns as they scraped against his skin. Through the flurry of movement, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a steep cliff looming in the distance, a sheer drop that led down to the town below.
"Ugh, damn it, why won't you just give up?!" Suren shouted, frustration lacing his voice.
Just as those words escaped his lips, one of the enormous stage horns veered off course, crashing into a nearby tree and crushing Suren's right hand beneath its weight. A surge of agony shot through him, forcing him to slip off the beast momentarily. Gritting his teeth, he bore the excruciating pain radiating from his shattered hand, his determination undeterred.
With fierce resolve, Suren swung himself back onto the beast, positioning his legs on its side as if it were solid ground, instinctively bending his knees to stabilize himself. Just meters away from the precipice of the cliff, a daring plan sparked in his mind; the creature, doesn't know whats ahead and was leading itself to a bitter death and was blinded by its own fear of him, but he could force it to turn.
He pushed down with all his might, pressing his legs firmly against the beast's side and leaning back while his broken hand sat under his other, gripping one of its enormous, twisting horns. Drawing on every ounce of strength he had left, he steered the animal, intent on forcing it to comply with his will.
Suren yelled with every ounce of strength he could muster, pulling desperately, but all his efforts were in vain. The majestic Stag leapt off the cliff, and in an instant, Suren was swept along with it. The frigid, salty wind whipped against his face, stinging his eyes as he plummeted downward, an unwelcome greeting to this abhorrent, foreboding place.
As he fell, his gaze was drawn once more to the water ring in the distance, a mesmerizing sight that captivated him like nothing else. The mystery of his parents' disappearance loomed in his mind, alongside the thick fog that he questioned, and the allure of the unknown territory that lay beyond it. Everything about this enigmatic water called out to him, pulling him deeper into its grasp, urging him to explore the secrets that lay hidden across the water like a bridge. A dangerous, Unknown bridge that might lead him to treasure and might find him answers.
As he drifted deeper into his thoughts, mesmerized by the pull of the mysterious other side, the stag suddenly reared up and they crashed into a bustling tavern below. The impact sent a thick cloud of dust swirling into the air, momentarily obscuring the dimly lit room. Everyone inside the tavern froze in disbelief, their conversations abruptly cut short. A few of them, struck by a mix of shock and instinct, bolted for the exit, leaving behind their half-finished drinks and a hushed silence that hung heavily in the air.
The stag, driven by the instinct to survive and still brimming with energy, erupted from the swirling dust. Suren's body was a tapestry of bruises, cuts, and scratches that marked his struggle, yet he remained upright, sustained solely by sheer willpower. With a thunderous crash, the stag barreled through the tavern wall, shattering the tranquility of Silvershore's serene streets and unleashing chaos upon the once peaceful scene.